


Snowed In

by eightlightminutes



Category: Bob's Burgers (Cartoon)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, College Tina, F/M, Power Outage, Romance, Snowed In
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:34:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28326138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eightlightminutes/pseuds/eightlightminutes
Summary: Zeke exhaled and sat beside her. “Tina, ya don’t think I’ve noticed ya don’t like me? What’d I do, huh?”She sighed, looking at him. The close proximity made her heart skip, but she smothered that undesired feeling with anger. “We really don’t need to get into it.”A snow storm leaves Tina home alone with her least-favorite person. Can Tina put aside the rage she feels for Zeke in the spirit of Christmas?
Relationships: Tina Belcher/Zeke (Bob's Burgers)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 40





	Snowed In

Tina just finished her first semester of college and it.... didn’t go so well. Between working at the restaurant and balancing a full-time course load, things started to slip through the cracks and she flunked her history final. Her professor offered an alternative essay to make up her grade, but she had to email it in before grades are due on Monday. So there she was on Christmas Eve, sitting at the kitchen table, maliciously attacking her keyboard.

“Are you sure you can’t come with us, Tina?” Bob asked as the rest of the family filed into the kitchen, bundled up and ready to go. 

“Sorry dad, I really have to knock this out and be done with it. It’s due Monday,” Tina replied.

“My Tina-beana’s gonna miss Christmas Eve!” Linda cried.

“Yeah, no fair! Why does Tina get to stay home instead of going to grandpa’s party?” Louise asked.

“Yeah!” Gene chimed.

“Louise, Gene,” Bob said sternly.

“It’s been five years since we’ve gone to Big Bob’s party. And we’re going, so get those butts in the car!” Linda said. She kissed the top of Tina’s head with a “mwah!” and followed Gene and Louise downstairs. They shouted their goodbyes to Tina.

“Tina?” Bob asked.

“Yeah, dad?”

“Zeke offered to close up the restaurant so that we could head out early. You know it’s a bit of a drive.” Tina hummed in agreement. “He’ll be stopping by when he’s done to drop off the keys.  _ Please _ be nice to him,” Bob sighed with emphasis. 

The past few months had not been kind to Tina. In addition to school, she had to deal with working at the restaurant with  _ Zeke _ , who also stayed in town after high school. He had already been working at the restaurant in high school, but Tina did her best to avoid working with him then. Now, he had a second job at his cousin’s automotive repair shop. Between that and Tina’s classes, Bob had no choice but to schedule them together for closing shifts, much to Tina’s dismay.

She had never warmed up to Zeke. It didn’t help that he seemed to be the reason Jimmy Jr. broke up with her last year. Tammy had told her that Jocelyn heard them arguing one afternoon after school, and that Zeke demanded Jimmy Jr. break up with Tina. In the aftermath of the breakup, she desperately wanted to confront him about it, but he was always at the restaurant. And her dad would have hated if she drove his favorite cook away. So she boiled in her rage, doing her best to ignore Zeke and acknowledge him only when necessary. Of course, Bob had kind of caught on, though he didn’t know what had happened. He only asked that she be cordial with him.

“Okay, I will,” Tina said, clacking away at her keyboard. 

Bob planted a kiss on the top of her head. He creaked down the stairs, shutting and locking the front door. Tina looked out the window and saw snow coming down. She focused back on her essay after a moment. Tomorrow was Christmas, and she had a lot of work to do if she was going to finish this today. 

\--------------------

A couple of hours had passed and Tina was putting together a ‘Works Cited’ page. To her surprise, the essay she thought was going to take all night was just about done. It seemed that once she removed shifts at the restaurant and a house full of people, (whom Tina loved but sometimes they were just too loud) her schoolwork got done a lot faster.

She looked up from her computer for the first time in hours and realized it had gotten dark. She turned on the kitchen light as someone knocked on the front door.  _ Zeke _ . Tina sighed and went down to answer the door. She was greeted by a rush of cold air and snow flurries.

“Woah,” she said, taking in the sight. Now dark out, the streetlamps glowed on Ocean Avenue. The snow was coming down hard now, and it looked like it had been for awhile now. She couldn’t tell where the sidewalk ended and the road began. Inches upon inches of fresh snow powdered everything around them. She wondered when it would all get plowed given that it was Christmas Eve.

“Yeah,” Zeke said. He was bundled up with his scarf covering most of his face, so Tina could only see his eyes. 

Tina shivered as the cold air continued to surround her. “The keys?” she asked. The sooner she could shut the door, the sooner she could be done with Zeke and done with her essay.

Zeke handed over the keys to the restaurant. “Hey T-Bird, any chance I could hang out here for a bit till this snow dies down? I don’t know if I can walk home in this and keep all my toes.” He wiggled his shoes for emphasis. The snow on the sidewalk came up to his ankles.

Tina groaned. “Fine,” she said, stepping to the side so that he could come in.

“Thanks, girl!” he said with all his usual charm, which hadn’t deterred through the years, despite Tina’s frustration with him. 

He followed her up the stairs. She turned on more lights. He kicked off his boots and took off his coat, scarf, and gloves, following her into the kitchen. She sat down in front of her laptop. He sat next to her.

“Ya working on that essay Mr. B was tellin’ me about?” he asked.

“Um, yeah,” she replied without looking up.  _ Be nice _ , she heard her father tell her in her head. “How was the restaurant?” she asked, looking at him. She was able to see a look of surprise flit across his face before he grinned. 

“It was fine,” he replied. “It slowed down about an hour ago, then I closed and went to the basement to do inventory. Who knew it was comin’ down that whole time!”

“Right…,” Tina replied, glancing out the window into the alley, but it was too dark outside to see anything.

The ringing of the landline caused them both to startled. Tina laughed nervously and stood up to answer the phone. “Belcher residence.”

“Oh, Tina! Thank god you still have power!” Linda said.

“Mom?” she asked. “Is everything okay?

“Yeah, sweetie. Well, Big Bob’s just lost power. We were waiting for the snow to die down so that we could go home, but the roads are bad and nobody’s come out to plow them!” 

“Is that Tina?” she heard her father ask in the background. There was muffled noise as the phone changed hands. “Tina,” Bob said. “Did Zeke come by with the keys to the restaurant?”

“Um, yeah. He just got here a minute ago,” she said, glancing at Zeke, who was watching her casually.

“So he’s still there?”

“Yeah.”

“Tina, like your mother said, the roads are bad. I don’t think we’re going to make it home anytime soon. Do you think that maybe you could  _ not _ send Zeke into that storm?”

Tina blushed, feeling Zeke’s eyes still on her as she stared at the wall. “Yeah, fine, dad.”

“Be careful, Tina. And make sure you keep your cell phone charged, okay?”

“Okay,” she said.

“I love you. We’ll be home as soon as we can,” Bob said.

“Love you too,” she said. She hung up the phone and turned to Zeke.

“Everything alright, T?” he asked.

“Yeah. Well, not really. My family is stuck across town. The roads are too dangerous to drive on and they don’t know when they’ll be home.” Tina sighed.

“I’m sorry,” Zeke replied. He stood up and walked to the kitchen window, cupping his hands against the glass and peering out. “I should really get outta yer hair.” He turned around to leave the kitchen.

“Wait,” she said. He stopped. “You can… stay,” she said through gritted teeth.

“Nah,” he said with a sad smile. “I’ll letcha get back to work.” He nodded at her laptop.

“Damnit, Zeke!” Tina said, exasperated from trying to play nice. “Just stay.”

“Alright, then,” he drawled.

“Do you want hot chocolate?!” she yelled, still keyed up.

Zeke chuckled. “Sure.”

Tina smiled despite herself, turning on the stove and grabbing a small pot to boil milk in. As she busied herself making hot chocolate, Zeke called his dad to let him know he wouldn’t be home anytime soon. As she poured the hot milk into a couple of mugs with powdered chocolate mixed, the lights flickered above them. She hummed worriedly, digging out some candles and a lighter from the junk drawer.

“Anything I can do to help?” Zeke offered.

“No, I got it,” Tina said, stirring the contents of the mugs with a spoon. She handed Zeke a steaming mug. “Do you wanna sit in the living room?”

“Fine by me,” he said.

Tina held on to the other mug, tucking her laptop under her arm and following Zeke to the living room. They sat on opposite ends of the couch. Tina reached for the remote and turned on the news. They were showing weather cam footage of the Wharf, though the snow was coming down so hard it was difficult to see much. The gist was, until the snow died down, it wasn’t safe for the city to send trucks out to plow the roads. “Sit tight, Oceanside, it’s going to be a long night,” the news reporter said. The newscast cut off and played an ad for the Sofa Queen’s furniture outlet. 

Tina sipped her hot chocolate, wondering how she ended up home alone with Zeke of all people.  _ What’s the opposite of a Christmas miracle?  _ She opened her laptop and noticed it was almost out of charge. She got up to get the charger for it out of her room. Zeke continued watching TV and drinking from his mug. 

Tina rooted around in her desk drawer, pulling out the charging cable. As she turned towards the door, everything went dark.

“Ahh!,” she shouted, immediately tripping and landing on the floor. The power had gone out.

“Tina? Ya alright?” Zeke asked.

“Yeah.” Tina could hear Zeke wandering her way. She shoved the now useless laptop cable off to the side and got up. Keeping her hands in front of her, she headed in the direction of the door. Once she stepped out into the hallway, her hands met Zeke’s warm torso.

“Oomph,” he grunted.

Tina blushed and drew her hands back. “Sorry.”

“It’s all good, T-Bird.”

“I left the candles in the kitchen,” she said. They blindly wandered to the kitchen, Tina leading the way. She felt around the counter until she found the lighter, lighting the several candles she had found earlier. “Here,” she said, handing one to Zeke. “Let’s take a couple to the living room for now.” She left one in the kitchen, and her and Zeke each took one to the living room. Setting the candles on the coffee table, they once again sat at opposite ends of the couch. Without the TV going, it was so quiet, aside from the howling wind outside. 

Tina finished the rest of her hot chocolate, which had grown cold. Picking up her laptop, she started reading through and editing her essay. For a while, it was quiet. She almost forgot Zeke was there.

“Shit,” she muttered. Her laptop had died. 

A chill began to permeate the air. She shivered and walked over to the window, moving the curtain to the side and peeking out. It wasn’t snowing much anymore. She looked over to Jimmy Pesto’s, trying to judge how much snow they had received based on how high it came up to on their door.  _ About a foot? _ Tina wondered if Jimmy Jr. was there, though she knew he and his brothers always spent Christmas with their mom. Jimmy Jr., who broke up with her because of something Zeke had said.  _ What could he have said to make him break up with me? _ Tina had always wondered this, racking her brain since it had happened for a reason that would have made sense.

“How is it?” Zeke asked, approaching to stand beside her.

“Fine,” she gritted, turning to walk away.

Zeke gently grabbed her arm. “Hey,” he said softly. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” she replied.

“Doesn’t seem like nothin’,” he said.

He looked at her intently. She remembered all the reasons she hasn’t brought this up with him before, mainly that her dad asked her to maintain a decent workplace relationship. “Seriously, it’s fine,” she said, shrugging out of his grip and curling up on the couch with a blanket around her shoulders. “Let’s just wait until they plowed the roads and shovel the sidewalks, and then you can go home and spend Christmas with your family.”

Zeke exhaled and sat beside her. “Tina, ya don’t think I’ve noticed ya don’t like me? What’d I do, huh?”

She sighed, looking at him. The close proximity made her heart skip, but she smothered that undesired feeling with anger. “We really don’t need to get into it.”

“I wanna know, really. Please.”

She paused. Were they really doing this? But the words already flew out of her mouth. “What did you tell him?”

He furrowed his brow. “Who?”

“Jimmy Jr! What did you tell him? I know you told him to break up with me and I want to know what you told him.”

Zeke paled. “Oh, urm… ya know about that?”

“Yes, I do, so please go ahead and tell me whatever horrible thing you told him so at least I can know why he did it.” Tina turned to face him completely, squaring her shoulders and holding her chin up to whatever devastation was coming her way.

“Tina, it doesn’t really matter, okay?” Zeke said, nervously rubbing the back of his neck.

“Zeke, just tell me, damnit!”

He sighed. “He was cheating on ya, okay? I found him with someone else and I told him he had to break it off with you. You’re too good for him, T.”

Tina froze.  _ No. No. That doesn’t make any sense _ . Tears began to slip down her cheeks. She rubbed them away angrily. “I don’t believe you.”

“Tina, I promise you, I saw what I saw.”

“Who was it?” she asked.

“Does it really matter?” he asked, looking away.

“Who. Was. It?”

Zeke watched the candles flickering on the coffee table. “Tammy.”

_ Tammy _ . Sure, she wasn’t always a great friend, but she knew how much Tina liked Jimmy Jr. “But Tammy had always liked  _ you _ .” 

“Maybe,” Zeke shrugged. “But I didn’t like her. Told her that much, so...”

Did this make sense? Why would Jimmy Jr. cheat on her with Tammy? Why would he cheat on her at all? Tina had always tried to be the perfect girlfriend, listening to him complain about his dad, walking home with him after school, going to his dance team performances. She deflated.  _ None of it mattered to him _ . She shivered. It was getting too cold in the apartment.

“Do ya have more blankets?” Zeke asked. “Should we put our coats back on?”

Tina looked up and really looked at him for the first time in a while. He stared at her, a serious expression that flickered with the candlelight. She had hated him for being the reason Jimmy Jr. broke up with her, but now it seemed that he had only done it to protect her from further heartbreak. She looked away.

He placed a hand on her shoulder. “Ya okay, Tina?”

This time, she didn’t ignore the current of electricity that ran from his body to hers. She remembered the kisses they shared years ago during spin-the-bottle and when she thought it was her last day on Earth. For some reason, he had always been there for her. She had a crush on almost every guy she met, but sitting there in the dark, alone and snowed in, in what would have been an excellent erotic friend fiction story, she saw Zeke in that light for the first time. 

She moved forward, closing the gap between them, pressing her lips to his. He was surprised, but he kissed back after a moment, setting his hands on her waist as she held his face with both her hands.

He pulled away after a moment, his expression somewhat weary. “What was that for?” he whispered.

“I just wanted to,” Tina replied. She brought her lips back to his, shifting so that he laid down on the couch, with her over him. She caught his bottom lip and gave it a gentle pull. 

Zeke wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her down beside him, kissing her passionately, like he had always wanted to. She ran her fingers through his hair, and he shivered from the contact. Neither of them was sure of how long this continued before they heard Tina’s cell phone ring. 

“Ugh,” she said, breaking away. She moved off the couch and into the kitchen where she had left her phone. It was her mom.

“Hello?” she asked, her voice slightly hoarse.

“Tina, honey, is everything okay? I just tried calling the landline and couldn’t connect,” Linda said.

“We lost power,” Tina said, clearing her throat.

“Oh, rats,” Linda sighed. “Look, baby, I just got in contact with the city, finally. They said they are sending trucks out to plow now that the snow storm has calmed down, but it will be at least a few hours before they get out to this part of town. We’re not going to be back before morning.”

Tina pulled the phone away and looked at the time. It was just after midnight.  _ Christmas _ . “Oh,” she said. 

“I’m so sorry, sweetie!” Linda cried. 

“It’s okay, mom. We’ll be okay,” Tina replied.

“We?” Linda asked. “Oh, right, Zeke is there! At least you’re not alone.” Tina blushed. “Hopefully, they’ll get the power back on and running soon, but make sure you get some extra blankets from the linen closet and stay warm!”

“I love you, mom.”

“I love you too, my baby. We’ll see you in the morning.”

Tina hung up and placed her phone back on the kitchen table, turning to see Zeke in the doorway with his coat on. Her stomach dropped. “You’re not leaving, are you?”

He looked at her with confusion for a moment before glancing down at his coat. “Oh! No, I just got cold is all.”

“Oh, good,” Tina found herself saying. About Zeke.  _ What is going on with me? Zeke?!  _ She recalled the way he held her and the way he kissed her and flushed. Who knew Zeke was such a good kisser? 

He approached her and wrapped her in a hug. She sighed into the warmth that enveloped her. “Is everything okay?” he asked into the crown of her head.

“My family can’t get back home tonight,” Tina said.

“I’m sorry, T-Bird.” Zeke squeezed her tightly before releasing. “I just called and told my dad I wouldn’t be home either.”

They looked at each other for a minute. “Let me see if Gene has something warm you can sleep in,” Tina said, stepping away and taking a candle down the hall to Gene’s room. She dug through the dresser and found a sweatshirt and a pair of sweatpants. Next, she went to the linen closet and tucked a couple of extra blankets under her free arm. She went back out to the living room and found Zeke waiting there on the couch. “Here,” she said, handing him the spare clothes. “That’ll be more comfortable to sleep in.”

“Thanks,” he replied, looking down at his work clothes. “Let me go change into these. I probably smell like french fries.”

“I’m not complaining,” Tina said. 

Zeke laughed and took a candle down the hall to the bathroom. He came back a couple of minutes later, sitting beside her.

“Look, T, maybe we should talk about what happened between us earlier?”

“Um, okay,” she replied with uncertainty.

He gave her a soft smile. “Tina, ya know I like ya, right? Have for a while.”

“Really?” she asked.

“Really,” he said. “I told you so one time, remember? In the maze?”

Tina vaguely remembered the day he was referring too. “Kind of. Though, I mostly thought you were just trying not to get hit with a water balloon.”

Zeke chuckled. “Well, I was, but it was also true.”

Tina smiled. “I like you too. As of about an hour ago. Or maybe that’s just when I realized it? I always thought I hated you… but I’m starting to think that it wasn’t hate.” She leaned forward and captured his lips again.

“I can work with that,” he hummed against her mouth, smiling.

She gave him another kiss and smiled. “Merry Christmas, Zeke.”

Zeke grinned, kissing her neck and her cheek and her nose and her lips. “Merry Christmas, Tina.”

\--------------------

The next morning, the rest of the Belcher clan finally made it home. Stepping into the living, they found Tina and Zeke asleep, tangled together, and covered in a pile of blankets.

“Aw, sick!” Louise whisper-shouted.

“Ah, young love,” Gene said.

“Well, I guess Tina doesn’t hate Zeke anymore,” Bob sighed, noticing their clasped hands peeking out from under the covers.

“Awww,” Linda cooed. “It’s Christmas magic!”

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Holidays! Hope you all liked the story. I felt inspired to write this last night, so I've been clacking away because I wanted to post it before Christmas was over. Let me know what you think in the comments!


End file.
